Author Topic: The Game Idea Thread (Read 14048 times) Tweet Share

Oddysseus · « **on:** 11 Dec 2007, 01:13 »

Welcome to the Game Idea Thread.

I started this thread to provide a place for spare game ideas so that people could get inspiration from them. The ideas come from two sources:
1.Old threads. I'm now searching through the forum archives for interesting/novel/bizarre game ideas. When I find one, I'll take the basic concept, paraphrase it, remove all the extraneous bits, and put it in this thread. Having all the old ideas arranged neatly in this thread will save others the trouble of searching through the forum and reading all the way through countless threads to get to the good stuff.
2.Me and you. You (yes, you) are encouraged to post any game idea that floats into your head here.
I'd encourage you to give a brief, but detailed overview of the concept that makes the game unique. I'd also recommend you stay away from suggesting game versions of existing stories/animes/movies, etc. Of course it's up to you. This thread won't be of much use if people don't participate.

You should also feel free to comment on any of the ideas posted, but I don't think it's too much to ask that you throw in a quick (maybe one sentence) game idea with your comment, to keep the thread on track.

Now, let's kick things off in style with a trio of ideas from Eggie:

You play a hideous monster from a swamp. The GUI starts off with two commands 'Eat' and 'Don't Eat.' There are two ways to complete it: A) Eat EVERYONE B) Try not eating things and watch as your social interaction skills grow.

You play a dead native american, and this obnoxious family are living on top of your buriel ground. You can control the house and make it do crazy things.

You play a teenage girl who's got home a little later than her mother considers acceptable. Through the magic of Dialogue options which appear at crucial points of the game, spin a yarn and play it at the same time.

And a more detailed concept from Alliance:

A boy gets in an accident of some sort, and ends up in a coma. Trapped inside his own mind, the boy must make his way through his dreams if he wants to recover. He has to go through everything from the most beautiful dreams to the most horrific nightmares. If he fails in the dream world, his heart rate flatlines in the real one, and he dies.
Later in the story, he meets a girl in his dreams, and falls in love with her. However, he has to face the possibility that she's not real.
However, she is. In the end of the story, the boy wakes up. He was in the accident at age 15, and he always pictured himself at that age. He is now 25. He stumbles into another room in the hostpital, and finds the girl. She's in a coma, just like him. He has to find a way to wake her up, so he gets back in bed, and aids her in her dreams.

And one of my own ideas:

A detective story that spans 4 decades, from the 1960s to the 1990s. An artist/civil rights activist is murdered in each decade, and the detective (who works all the cases) becomes convinced that the murders are related. However, each murder goes unsolved until the fourth and final case is resolved. The gimmick is that each decade of the game is presented in a style that suits the decade (bright colors & op art for the 60s, bright neon for the 80s, etc). Also the detective starts as a naive rookie in the first case, but by the last case, he is very weathered and cynical.

Your turn. Let's have some fun.

FSi++ · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Dec 2007, 08:02 »

Ok, let's get it spinning.

OK, one idea I made up for Pmdee, not that he'll ever use it. Not very imaginative, mind you.

Give me a hand
Hero of the game is a executor / killer / torturer / whatever but he has only one hand. All goes well until a king / queen / tzar / sultan / whoever gives him an order which could only be fulfilled with TWO hands. So he has now to ask his friend to give him a hand.

Baron · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Dec 2007, 02:04 »

Alright,
An average everyman type character is the only survivor of an interstellar spacecraft crash on a strange alien jungle world. He activates the distress beacon, which will send ships traveling at light speed across the cosmos to rescue him, but the signal will take three days to reach the nearest base. The character now has three days (1 hour in game time, broken into three 10 minute days and three 10 minute nights) with but one mission: survive. He must use his wits and observations to solve the terrible perils of his temporary home. Death would be a frequent outcome, but through judicious game saves and close attention to details the player would be able to steer this character through increasingly elaborate dangers.

Now, make my game!

BaRoN

ManicMatt · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Dec 2007, 10:14 »

Sorry, I'm going to use an existing TV series!

Star Trek Deep Space Nine:

Odo's Investigations

Solve crimes as Odo, the shapeshifting security officer! Use your office to contact your uh.. contacts, and find out information from the databases. Use your keen observation skills to observe whether people are lying or not, shown with a small diagram of some sort. Shape shift into different animals and objects to investigate smuggler's ships and find clues and evidence! The fact that Odo never carries a gun in the series works well for a point and click style game.

I actually wanted to make this once, but I don't have the skills to draw serious characters and backgrounds.

dasjoe · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 Dec 2007, 10:43 »

not exactly adventure-game related, but an interesting concept:
300 game ideas in 300 days, which stalled some time last year.

Heromaker · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Dec 2007, 12:24 »

The Tower: You're a princess trapped in a tall tower with no doors, just a window. You must use the things inside your bedroom, the passing princes and woodcutters for help, and maybe even abuse/kill your witch kidnapper in the process. (Every time a new prince tries to save you, he fails in some comical way, but you gain some new inventory item from his attempt.) UPDATE: You can't have this one, it's mine, it's mine! And may be a short game In Production thread in a few months.

Anticide: An extremely depressed rich man wants to kill himself, but everything in his spooky old mansion and the surrounding town he tries to kill himself on/with fails somehow. (i.e. falling off a building but onto a mattress truck, the poison really being just Tang, etc.) Help him figure out/set up an unescapable deathtrap!

The Handoff: Instead of just one to three player characters, every single character in the game is necessary at some point to help with a specific puzzle, or multiple puzzles. You have to get them to do their thing, but when you switch to another character, that one you just controlled might wander off and carry on with their other personal business/motivations. And you can't just switch - the player you're in right now has to make contact with the new character you want to switch to, but social relationships are still the rule - strangers might not want to help unless motivated properly.

OneDollar · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Dec 2007, 13:32 »

Surveillance
In a similar way to Uplink you start by using a program to hack into low level security systems at a science lab. After observing the labs for a while you discover something is afoot and someone is trying to destroy a part of the lab and the scientists in it. Using the systems under your control you have to guide the scientists out of danger.

The focus is very much to immerse the player, and make the scenario seem as real as possible. The scientists gradually become aware that someone is watching them, and will react accordingly when you help or hinder. Continue to help them and you will gain their trust and they will start looking to you and asking you for advice. Fail to do anything for a while and the scientists will get increasingly worried. Failure to help, or giving bad advice will result in scientists narrowly avoiding injury, getting hurt or even killed, and the other scientists will react accordingly and start mistrusting you.

As the game progresses you would get opportunities to hack into deeper level systems to aid the scientists further. Also you'll be monitored and traced, and will have to pay attention to stop being kicked off the system

Radiant · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Dec 2007, 14:18 »

Quote from: Oddysseus on 11 Dec 2007, 01:13

A boy gets in an accident of some sort, and ends up in a coma. Trapped inside his own mind, the boy must make his way through his dreams if he wants to recover. He has to go through everything from the most beautiful dreams to the most horrific nightmares. If he fails in the dream world, his heart rate flatlines in the real one, and he dies.

If you're interested in that, try the classic action/adventure hybrid, Weird Dreams.

Oddysseus · « **Reply #8 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 06:36 »

Off to a good start! Actually, the response is better than I thought it would be (so far)

Another classic from teh forumz:

I would love to do a kind of game where the main character has no memory of what happened, but he finds, e.g., his family murdered and he is the prime suspect. He is travelling backward in time, and each day he has to figure out more pieces to the puzzle and who really killed his family. The game ends on the "last" day, when the murder actually occurs and he has to prevent it. (idea courtesy of Migs)

And another of my own:

A typical cliche adventure game plot where you have to save your kidnapped significant other. The twist is, you can select your gender at the beginning of the game, and the characters in the game will respond to you differently based on your gender (i.e. the jocks will try to beat you up if you're a guy, but they'll drool all over themselves and help you if you're a girl). This would also affect all the puzzles in the game, so even though the locations and obstacles are the same, the puzzle solutions are different. There are also places that only a character of a certain gender can enter (really basic example- women's rest room). The places that are "off-limits" to characters of the other gender would contain unique items that would help keep the puzzle solutions different.
Basically, it would investigate the issues of gender identity in an interesting and hopefully fun way that wouldn't bore everyone to tears.

Tag, you're it!

Renal Shutdown · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 06:54 »

That classic from the forum has been used outside the forum, too:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751186/

As for an actual idea, I once had a semi-plan to make a game based on the TV show Red Dwarf. Each series had an accompanying book, which contained lots of material that didn't make the shows, so there's plenty of storylines and jokes to make something from. I'd have considered persuing the idea if (like ManicMatt) my art style would've suited it.

Another idea I planned, but then stuck on the back burner was a Sketchbook Adventure. Each "Room" was really a page of a notepad (complete with coffee stains, doodles, etc), and the line-art-ish main character had to get from page to page in an effort to escape.

FSi++ · « **Reply #10 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 09:08 »

Another idea of mine (for those of you who like twisted plots):

Time Kidnapper
Evil time traveller have kidnapped your future self and threatens to kill him/her/you if you won't start the world war/revolution/kill some significant person. But instead you managed to steal his time travelling machine and now have to rescue yourself from the evil genius.

Indie Boy · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 09:26 »

What about a game that is in 1st person and the main character is blind. Everything in the room is black apart from your hands and you have to feel/smell/taste etc everything in the room for it to become visable. Maybe a kind of dialogue puzzle kind of thing for some of the more general objects to discover what they are(eg is this a phone or a remote?). The more information you have about the object the more clear it is and the more colour it has. Also due to nature of being blind there would be lots of ways you could die e.g fall down stairs or get ran over by a car. I just thought it would be an interesting game to play.

lo_res_man · « **Reply #12 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 10:01 »

You play the deputy and you are desperately in love with the sheriffs daughter, and she thinks your cute too. Only her papa, the sheriff, stands in your way. Then, a gypsy fortune teller accidently dumps the "the spirit of theatro" into a nearby pond. No harm no fowl, 'cept some Shakespearean ducks right? Alas, the sheriff takes a dip in said pond for his yearly bath, and he is possessed by THE SPIRIT OF THEATRO! All good right? I mean, now your free to court his daughter, and if the hay seed town folk are exposed to a little culture, where is the bad? Unfortunately, the Shakespearean spirit now wants to make EVERYBODY in the town as Elizabethan as he is. Can you stop him? Can you gain the sheriffs daughters hand? For suth,I know not, but I think it woulds make a ripping good game.

Oddysseus · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 14:40 »

lo_res_man- I remember reading that idea while digging through the forums, but I think I prefer another idea of yours:

"Villainy Inc: Zombie Labour Stinks" A hero stalks your castle, attempting to free the princess in your basement. But how are you supposed to deal with that, when your zombie hoard goes on strike?

And how about another short but intriguing idea, while I'm at it:

Jack the Policeman's shift has ended, and he takes the train home as usual. What he doesn't know is that the train will be high-jacked 15 minutes later. Without any weapons or whatsoever, he tries to figure something out...
(by jannar85)

For my own idea, I think there aren't enough satirical games, so:

You are the front-runner for the Republican nomination for President. Unfortunately, the night before the convention where you would be nominated, some Godless heathen liberal tells the press that your son is a homosexual. Obviously, this throws a monkey wrench into your 'family values' campaign. The only way you could win the nomination now is if your son publicly announces that he has found Jesus and renounced his gayosity. Unfortunately (for you and your campaign), he doesn't think being gay is a problem, and has no intention of lying for you. Your mission is clear: you have less than 24 hours to degayify your son. So, break out the football, the Playboys, and that Bible you always carry with you but never bother to read, because it's going to be a long night!

(Of course at the end, nothing works, and your son suggests that maybe you could still win the nomination if you show that you are compassionate and accepting of his differences. At this point, you legally disown him, thus securing the Republican nomination for President. Don't you love happy endings?)

Phemar · « **Reply #14 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 18:59 »

Quote from: Renal Shutdown on 13 Dec 2007, 06:54

That classic from the forum has been used outside the forum, too:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751186/

Also similar to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/

Are all these ideas here freely available to use? Or is it just a showcase of ideas?

Radiant · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 19:03 »

Is anyone familiar with Roger Zelazny's works? I've always thought the "shadow walking" from his Amber series would make for an excellent adventure game.

(and one exists, but that is a text adventure which really doesn't do it justice).

Also, I've got this bunch of old and partially-developed game ideas.

TheJBurger · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 20:01 »

Quote from: Zor on 14 Dec 2007, 18:59

Quote from: Renal Shutdown on 13 Dec 2007, 06:54
That classic from the forum has been used outside the forum, too:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751186/

Also similar to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/

Are all these ideas here freely available to use? Or is it just a showcase of ideas?

As far as movies that would make great adventure games, Memento is near the top of my list.

Pelican · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 22:22 »

Quote from: Zor on 14 Dec 2007, 18:59

Are all these ideas here freely available to use? Or is it just a showcase of ideas?

As far as I'm aware, the original idea was a thread of abandoned ideas. Ideas people had thought of but didn't have the time or inclination to make, so put them up for other people to use.

In any case, this one is up for grabs

:

Ok PC wakes up from cryosleep on a research space station/ship which is out in the middle of nowhere studying some sort of stellar phenomena. The computer is supposed to regularly wake a crew member to run a few tests, compile some data etc. then put them back to sleep. The PC soon finds out that the last crew member to be woken up went a bit cuckoo and threw himself out of the airlock. (yeah, I know, sounds familiar, bear with me

)

PC has to figure out what happened. Could be something as simple as the other crew member was a nut, or something more sinister. Unfortunately, the other crew member damaged a number of ship systems before spacing himself, including the ship's AI. The PC has to either convince the AI to give access to certain areas or permit certain actions, or attempt to fix the borked systems, or just bash them until something happens. The PC's actions also have effects on other ship systems, so taking time to repair one thing, might repair a related system; and bashing something might trash something else. And bashing things too much may cause everything to fail and boom, game over!

Yeah, the plot idea is a bit old, but I liked the thought of indirect effects depending on how you solved puzzles. Still, its rather ambitious for me to attempt at the moment, so loot away if you like.

Oddysseus · « **Reply #18 on:** 15 Dec 2007, 07:33 »

@Zor: As fun as it is to post ideas for our own amusement, yes, this thread is intended to either help inspire others or give them a full idea to start on. (By the way, which idea were you planning on developing? If it was one of mine, you can have it.)

Another quick one from the archives:

A sort of Double Dragon clone/remake, with the premise being a schoolgirl trying to get her backpack back from a street thug, and by the end of the game she ends up bringing down the whole crime organization. I envision a look/feel of a Hong Kong kung-fu movie and heavy inspiration by the Kill Bill movies. (by EagerMind)

Okay, not really an adventure game... but then again, wouldn't it be an interesting challenge to remake Double Dragon as an adventure game? With a little schoolgirl as the protagonist? Well, I thought so.

Another of mine:

A game set in an insane asylum with Cubism-inspired backgrounds and sprites. You're a schizophrenic trying to solve a murder committed at the asylum. The problem is, all three witnesses give different descriptions of the killer, and all three feel differently about the victim (one feels sorry for him, one thinks he deserved it, etc.) You have to figure out who the real killer is by piecing together the three accounts of the murder.
I was also thinking about using different kinds of dialogue puzzles for the game. Most dialogue puzzles are either "pick the right topic or lose" or "click everything." Not really puzzles at all. So I thought, what if deciphering the dialogue itself was the puzzle? One character would speak only about the past and future, never the present (so she would answer questions you hadn't asked yet, and then answer things you asked at the start of the conversation). Another character would alternate between telling the truth and telling lies, so you could never really be sure whether to trust the information or not. And one character could even speak in code, or in a type of slang that you would have to translate yourself.

Your turn, interweb.

Akatosh · « **Reply #19 on:** 17 Dec 2007, 18:01 »

Evil Genius (stupid working title from times immemorable. The game idea has changed notably since then, too.)

As sketched up before, this game would let you play as an evil genius - but not in the restricted way it's normally possible. You would be able to create your own villain pretty much from sketch, with a limited collection of Hats, Beards, Faces, Skin Color, Genders (obvioulsy :

) and "villain archetypes" (I sketched up "Ex-General", "Presidente", "Alien", "Evil Scientist" and "Crazy AI", I think). The actual game would be split into several parts afterwards: Building a hideout with your limited funds (depending on profession and background), choosing yourself a target (Erasion of Humankind or World Domination) coming up with a nice plan (adventure-y), then arming your base with traps and troops and ultimately holding off a certain amount of heroes, one at a time, in a turnbased sidescrolling tactics game, with your troops and traps. Of course, the hero has every single advantage on his side - your troops are hindered by fog of war, have a limited view range, can take VERY few damage and are generally only dangerous in amounts of 5 or more. You can, of course, hire strong troops, too, but with a hard limit and at a high cost; remember - you are the evil guy, your mercenaries are disposable! We're talking in terms of "send in cannon fodder until he runs out of ammo" tactics here. Kamikaze tactics. Zap Brannigan tactics. You see where I'm going here?

I might still start this game and maybe sketch up a coupla fake screenshots someday... just thought I'd share this idea with you.